


with you

by blamethenargless



Series: Catradora Week 2018 [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catradora Week 2018, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Teenage Dorks, Tree Houses, guys this is just really cute and pure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blamethenargless/pseuds/blamethenargless
Summary: “What, golden girl’s cutting class? The world’s going to end!” Catra mocks. But she’s smiling, a slow and true smile that works its way into Adora’s heart and wraps around every breath.orCatra and Adora have been friends for a while, so they decide it's due time for gift-giving.





	with you

**Author's Note:**

> This is my work for day one of Catradora Week 2018. I chose The Horde as my prompt. As always, everything belongs to the creators. Enjoy!

Catra doesn’t like to follow the schedule. Which makes it pretty hard for Adora to track her down to give her a gift.

Catra  _ should  _ be in Group Battle Training right now. But she’s not. And she  _ should  _ have been in the mess hall earlier, eating breakfast. But she was nowhere to be found. And Adora  _ should  _ have woken up with Catra by her side. Like she does every morning. But all she got was a cold bed and confusion.

Adora’s searched pretty much the whole morning, even cutting class to try and find Catra. She knows Shadow Weaver will be on her for this, but just this once, she thinks that Shadow Weaver can wait.

The halls are sprawling and confusing, and even though Adora’s lived in the Fright Zone her whole life, she still finds herself making wrong turns occasionally. She backtracks to the barracks, the bathroom, the gym—Catra’s nowhere to be found. She scours high and low. 

Nothing.

Adora sighs. Catra’s probably out in the Woods. So she pulls on her boots and grabs an overcoat and heads out.

It’s pretty easy to get past the gate. Being Shadow Weaver’s favourite comes in handy, Adora thinks, when you’re trying to do exactly what Shadow Weaver wouldn’t want. She just tells the guards she’s on Offical Horde Business, and they don’t question her. She’s a shoo-in to be Force Captain in a few years, so they have a lot of respect for her.

It’s cold outside, and Adora finds herself shivering. She clutches a small box to her side as she ventures deeper and deeper into the woods.

“Catra?” she calls out, and only the wind in the leaves answers. “Catra, come on. I know

you’re here somewhere.” 

A laugh from above. She looks up, and there’s Catra, perched on a branch. She swings her way down, landing in a crouch at Adora’s feet.

“Hey, Adora,” she says, and she holds out her hand. “I’ve got something for you.”

Adora rolls her eyes, but allows herself to be led away by Catra. “Seriously, Catra, you can’t vanish like that. Shadow Weaver’s gonna kill you. And she’s gonna kill me; I spent the whole day looking for you. What were you doing?”

“You’ll see soon enough. And you’re fine. Shadow Weaver would never lay a finger on you,” Catra says, a touch of bitterness in her voice. “But that’s neither here nor there. What’re you holding there?”

“The reason I was looking for you all day! It’s an anniversary, you know.”

“I know.”

Catra stops. They’re in a clearing, one that Adora’s never seen before. The wind seems to call her name.

“You first,” Catra demands.

“Ok, but close your eyes.”

Catra does. 

Adora opens the box and takes out the headdress. She places it on Catra’s head, and Catra winces a little at the cold metal touching her skin. It’s a bronze piece, with two spikes at the top, and it curves down to the edges of Catra’s jaw. It pushes her hair back, too.

Adora steps back. Smiles. Says, “Okay, you can open them now,” and hands Catra a mirror.

When Catra sees herself, her eyes go wide and her face lights up and her cheeks flush pink and she’s beautiful. Really, truly beautiful.

“Thank you,” she whispers, and the joy in her expression is gift enough for Adora. “This is the best present ever.”

Adora grins sheepishly. “It was nothing,” she says. “Just had to ask a few people to gather stuff for me, and I worked on it for the past few weeks in Workshop. Which you would _ know  _ if you ever went to  _ class _ , Catra,” she adds, punching the other girl lightly on the arm.

“Ach. I’m fourteen—fourteen, right? Regardless. I’m too old to do workshop.”

“Yeah, well, workshop got you this awesome piece,” Adora responds. “But—you like it, right? You really do?”  
“I really, really do. Thank you, Adora. Seriously. Thank you.”

Adora laughs, soft and true. “You’re welcome.”

Catra brightens, discarding the sweet face and the almost-crying eyes. “And now! For the most epic gift of all time!” She gestures around dramatically with a sweeping hand. “How much do you love it?”

“Er—I don’t really know what it is.”  
Catra rolls her eyes. “Come on, Adora, look harder.”

Adora squints, looking around, and—there. In the top of one of the trees, there’s a small wood house. It’s barely noticeable, as the tree’s large fronds protect it from sight (and from potential rain), but it’s there.

She runs closer, straining for a better look. The tree has small footholds nailed into it, so Adora scales the trunk and pulls herself inside the hut.

It’s bigger than it looks, with three windows and a back door. There’s a table with two chairs, and a hammock strung between two branches just outside. A few books sit on a shelf to her left.

Adora leans out the window. Down below, Catra’s just a speck, but even from this height, Adora knows Catra can see her smile. “This is  _ amazing,  _ Catra! Here, come on up.”

Catra’s beside her in a few bounds. “You like it?”

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes. So  _ this  _ is what you’ve been doing with the tools you stole from Workshop. Oh, don’t give me that look, you’re a worse spy than you think you are. Besides, I notice everything you do.”

Catra chokes on the air. “You—what?”

“You’re my best friend. You literally sleep with me every night. I’m pretty attuned to your actions.”

“And now,” Catra explains, “if you want to sleep alone, all you have to do is sneak out and stow away here. I made a map, too, so you can always find it.”

Adora sweeps Catra up into a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispers in her ear. “Thank you for years of friendship, and for years more.”

“And in a few years’ time, this won’t just be a celebration of our friendship anniversary, but also a celebration of your getting Force Captain.”

Adora pulls back. “Oh, stop it. Anyone could get Force Captain.”

“Mm. Sounds like something only an extremely modest future Force Captain would say.”

“Well, that’s a long way off.” Adora throws an arm around Catra’s shoulder and pulls her close. “That’s when I’m, like, seventeen. We don’t have to think about the future now. Let’s just take the rest of the day off and spend it here. That sound good?”

“What, golden girl’s cutting class? The world’s going to end!” Catra mocks. But she’s smiling, a slow and true smile that works its way into Adora’s heart and wraps around every breath.

“Maybe it’ll end, but it’ll be a pretty good end. Because I’ll be here with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments/Kudos always appreciated :)


End file.
